The impact of intergenerational trauma in remote Australian Indigenous communities is alarming. Over the past 13 years, I have witnessed the legacy of intergenerational trauma in remote Aboriginal communities. I have also seen the direct, positive effects of rhythm and creative projects on the mental health and wellbeing of Indigenous families. When such programs are defunded and abandoned, the repercussions ripple out, drastically impeding the movement toward healthier community living.

The transformational impact of programs addressing intergenerational trauma is dependent on sustained, committed funding. Current funding of these important social programs is subject to frequent political change, resulting in profound instability in Indigenous communities.

The effects of trauma on the neurobiology of Indigenous youth is well understood. The Australian government and national peak bodies such as the Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care (SNAICC) recognise methods of recovery from a neuroscientific perspective in well documented academic papers such as Trauma-informed services and trauma-specific care for Indigenous Australian children, which references Dr Bruce Perry’s research into childhood trauma and offers a worthy theoretical framework for optimising child neurodevelopment. SNAICC offer substantial findings in their publication Healing in Practice.

Despite this research, the Australian government is offering little or no funding to support active therapeutic programs which promote post-traumatic growth in Indigenous communities. The decision to underfund youth services surely defies reality in a nation which has the highest youth suicide in the world and where detention rates of Aboriginal youth, at 26 times the rates of other children, are the main focus of the recent visit of the Amnesty International’s Secretary General. It also defies the oft stated mantra of the Abbott Government regarding Indigenous affairs: “Getting children to school, adults to work and building safer communities.”

Trauma needs to be addressed on a physical level over a sustained period of time to assist the brain in new growth and opportunities to heal. Trauma has caused and continues to cause, social and emotional issues that are alarmingly detrimental to remote Indigenous communities.The legacy of dysfunction, disease, pain and sorrow, for a culture that lived wisely, powerfully, and autonomously for 60,000 years or more before invasion, theft of land, massacres, dispossession, assimilation, intervention, stolen children and state-imposed poverty, is so deeply shameful through my eyes.

What legacy do we want to leave? The majority of non-Indigenous Australians live in relative wealth (or at least comfort) at the ongoing expense of the health and wealth of the First Nation peoples. Can we make a gesture as individuals and take some responsibility for the poor and profoundly destructive decisions made by past and present governments? Can this generation make a powerful statement about the world we would like to see, about the future we would like to create?

If we could take initiative and make change what would it look like? We are Ba-Boom! For the past 10 years we have been traveling to remote communities, when funding permits, to deliver rhythm and music education through school programs and holiday programs. We integrate art, sport, and nutrition programs, all aimed at alleviating the effects of trauma on these communities, with special focus on youth.

We propose to invite a million Australians and or international citizens to help us to initiate autonomy from government funding to address this very serious issue over a sustained period of time. The offering of $10 for 10 years (a glass of wine at a bar!) by a million people would help fund many targeted, trauma-informed programs. Through accessing long term and current relationships with remote Indigenous communities and thorough cultural consultancy with elders and youth alike, we propose to employ and train facilitators (both Indigenous and non-Indigenous), to engage young Indigenous people in a variety of well structured and targeted activities supporting them to live vibrantly and confidently on their ancestral lands, connected to their families and historical culture.

Ongoing partnerships play an essential role. Negotiated partnerships with local Indigenous organisations and councils, NGO’S, schools and other concerned parties are vital to the ongoing success and expansion of the program.

Funding support by a collective of concerned and informed individuals would mobilise professional co-ordinators and facilitators of music, rhythm, art, sport, nutrition, dance, narrative therapy, sexual and mental health and life skills programs. It will purchase transport (4WD buses), trailers, instruments, equipment (recording, multi-media, camping, art), food, cooking equipment, clothing, tools, satellite phones, first aid equipment, fuel. It would assist and support elders to create safe spaces by taking youth and their families out of communities and back onto ancestral lands (“out to Country”), for the focused teaching of Law and Culture and the wise teachings and story telling from Elders. It would also assist with tours both state and interstate, as an opportunity for these talented youth to be seen, affirmed and acknowledged for their skills.

Above all, collective funding would assist in building the capacity, empowerment, mental and physical health and wellbeing, self determination, self esteem, a sense of belonging, and feelings of worth and validation for Indigenous youth in Australia.

Next year we will launch a fundraising campaign. We have begun inviting a well informed and passionate team of individuals to assist us in designing and delivering such an ambitious campaign and program.

Stay tuned. We will continue to publish on our site, and we invite you to support us by sharing what you have learned. Feel free to contact us directly or join our mailing list and we’ll let you know when we launch our campaign.

Donations are gratefully received. If you feel inclined, please help us to get underway by donating what you can.

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Payment for: Indigenous Youth Programs in Remote Communities

Mail orders and cheques for Ba-Boom! are gratefully received at PO Box 33, Leigh Creek, South Australia, 5731

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Ba-Boom! are Shon & Svet : Specialist Teachers, acclaimed Musicians, Composers and Creative Co-Directors of an independent Rhythm Education unit that travels extensively across outback and remote Australia to provide unique services and opportunities to Indigenous youth. Through the exciting medium of Ensemble Drumming, Ba-Boom! are empowering Indigenous youth by developing their latent skills in music and taking them on a Journey into Rhythm.

The heart of Ba-Boom!‘s work is focused into two parallel streams: providing curriculum-enhancing Rhythm Training Classes for remote community schools and delivering educational Youth Development Programs for after-school and school holiday periods. Ongoing school engagements have culminated in school children pursuing their musical aspirations all the way to festival stages with performances for wide, public audiences.

Ba-Boom!’s visits to the remote Ltyentye Apurte School over the last three years in Santa Teresa has reaped the finest results to date. Major public performances for the Alice Desert and Wide Open Spaces Festivals, as well as winning the Open Percussion Section in two consecutive years at the Centralian Eistedfodd, inspired the school and community of Santa Teresa to send the Ltyentye Apurte Drummers off on their first ever, cross-state tour to Darwin in 2012.

All of these achievements and public outcomes are not only testimony of the Ltyentye Apurte Drummers’ quality and professionality, but of the strength of Ba-Boom!’s Rhythm in Schools Program.

Ba-Boom! Rhythm in Schools Program:

The Ba-Boom! Rhythm in Schools Programis clear, thorough and effective.

Young people’s physical co-ordination and mental faculties are exercised through the accessible medium of drumming. To drum well requires good technique, careful listening and concentration skills. The wholistic experience, shared in a group context, involves the class group to work together as one, in rhythm, following clear instructions and arrangement of musical material.

The Program takes the guidelines of the Australian Curriculum’s General Capabilities and applies them to the context of music as a medium for social connection and interaction. Drumming is a proven means of accessing multiple intelligences as well as being health-giving and stress-relieving. Teachers and Principals who observe Ba-Boom!’s process are forthcoming with their appreciation of the students’ enhanced self-esteem, discovery of leadership qualities, team spirit and increased learning capacities.

Ba-Boom!‘s many years of experience in successfully engaging Indigenous youth in Ensemble Drumming is due to their commitment to returning to schools and communities, to further develop relationships and skills, and guide the young ones on their journey into rhythm, performance and an enhanced life.

Over the years, the Nyangatjatjara, Mutitjulu, Finke, Ikuntji, Ampilatwatja, Arlpurrurulum, Yirara, Walunguru, Ltyentye Apurte (Santa Teresa) and Marree Aboriginal Schools have all embraced Ba-Boom’s Rhythm Program. Teachers at all of these schools have recognized a blossoming of their students learning capacity and confidence as a result of their engagement in Ensemble Drumming.

Ba-Boom! are passionate about engaging with young people through drumming, to guide and inspire them towards making creative, healthy and well informed choices about their futures.

“In many ways it is a matter of educating the students in the process of learning how to learn. Once they understand that they need to commit and focus to reach their goal, the results of which are being celebrated by their community and the general public, they get a taste of the rewards and benefits of learning, both internally and externally.

The FEELING of success is motivating. This process encourages the young people to attend school more regularly and to have the courage to persist even when it seems challenging. Effectively we are teaching positive resilience and positive learning.”

Psychologist Bruce Perry M.D.,PhD is the Senior Fellow of the Childhood Trauma Academy. After a 20 year research project he and his colleagues have documented the profound effects of rhythm and movement in creating well developed children. He states, “Normal social-emotional development requires attentive attuned care giving and a rich array of relational opportunities during development. Healthy organization of neural networks depends upon the pattern, frequency and timing of key experiences during development. Patterned, repetitive activity changes the brain. Neurons are uniquely designed to change in response to activity. They are use dependent. Children exposed to consistent, predictable nurturing and neurosequential brain activities will develop neurobiological capabilities that will increase the child’s chance for effective learning, health, happiness, productivity and creativity.”

Ba-Boom!’s Philosophy:

“It’s an exciting time because Indigenous youth have an incredible natural aptitude for sports, language , music and the arts in general. Slowly but surely, funding is being sourced to support Developmental Programs like ours, that ultimately enable Indigenous youth to proudly shine in their natural abilities. They then, can enjoy opportunities to learn and grow not only in school, but in all of life.

The more we celebrate the skills of Indigenous people, the healthier and more empowered they will become, enabling further valuable contributions to the greater cultural wealth of our society. A deeper sense of pride and empowerment will flow into community life and develop into healthier life choices in general.”

How We Do It:

“Influenced by West African rhythms, we pull rhythms apart and piece them back together in an exciting, surprising and dynamic form. West African rhythms are a series of patterns/sequences that strongly engage the facility of memory, physical co-ordinati0n, listening skills and teamwork as well as offering numerous other benefits.

Accessibility is the key: we need to find the precise balance between too easy and too challenging. The former gets boring while the latter inspires a fear of failure i.e, a giving up on oneself.

We need to regularly change the sequences to maintain young peoples’ interest and enthusiasm, hence the multiple breaks and layering in our arrangements. It is important to us that the students feel pride and ownership of the pieces, engendering a deep sense of confidence when performing in a public arena.

While certain patterns and feels are borrowed from the West African rhythm genre, we also reference Middle-Eastern, Latin and other world grooves.

It is an exciting journey because when I began teaching remote community youth, I quickly discovered that what I had learned in a very formal way from my mentors in African music and rhythm, was not easily accessible to the highly excitable and easily distracted youth of today!

This is how I began breaking down these wonderfully exciting rhythmic feels and piecing them back together in a simple, original form.

Life is awash with patterns and we like to explore the limitless ways to connect and weave them together into magnetic tapestries of sound.

While the weaving is in process, we expose the fact that there are many parts that make up the whole (as in life!), where each individual part is equally as important as the next. When a rhythm ensemble is entrained it generates a strong vibrational frequency.

Ultimately, this is what inspires the profound joy that people experience when engaging in, listening to and being awash in an orchestra of drums and percussion, played in dynamic oneness.”